Moroccan Spiced Lamb Neck Chops

Lamb neck chops are a very cheap cut of meat yet when cooked slowly make a delicious
meal. Fabulous for those old fashioned forgotten dishes such Lamb Navarin and great in
an Irish stew. The cut also makes an amazing curry and excellent in Middle Eastern
dishes. Cooking the neck with the bone simply adds to the flavour of the dish.

Portions: 4 Portions

Preparation: 10 minutes

Cooking: 2 hours

Ingredients

Spiced Lamb

4 lamb neck chops (175g-225g each)

120g plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

4 tbsp olive oil or cold pressed rapeseed oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tbsp ginger, peeled and finely chopped or grated

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ras el-hanout

1 cinnamon stick

zest of 1 lemon

12 dried apricot, roughly diced

To Serve

4 tbsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley

1 tbsp honey

2 tbsp mint shredded

zest of 1/2 lemon

saffron couscous or pilaf rice

Method

Spiced Lamb

Heat the oil over a moderate high heat in a casserole pan that is just large
enough to hold the lamb. Coat the lamb in the seasoned flour, place in the pan and
brown on each side, remove from the pan and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 170C. sauté the onion in the pan that you browned the meat
over a moderate heat. When soft add the garlic, ginger, cumin seeds, ground
coriander and ras el-hanout, stir and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the cinnamon stick,
lemon zest, apricots and lamb to the pan. Pour in the stock or water and bring to
the boil, cover with a lid and place on the centre shelf of the preheated oven.
Leave to cook for 1 1/2-2 hours until the meat is tender and falls from the bone. If
there is to much liquid remove the meat and reduce.

To Serve

Stir in the 2 tbsp parsley and honey. Season to taste. Place 1 neck chop on each
plate scatter over parsley, mint and lemon zest. Serve with your choice of
accompaniments.